Anyone else find it ironic that someone fighting so hard for the image of Santa Claus, a symbol of peace and goodness, has to resort to personal attacks to try and get whatever point he is trying to make across?

The real Santa Claus is buried in Ireland! St. Nicholas of Myra was originally buried in his home town but knightly relic hunters removed the remains first to southern Italy and then on to Ireland where a church was built and dedicated to the saint at Newtown, Jerpoint, Co. Kilkenny. (Now in ruins)*

Santa means saint and ultimately derives from the Latin word Sanctus. Claus is an abbreviation of Nicholas comes into English from French Nicolas, from Latin Nicholaus, Nicolaus, from Greek Nikholaos, literally “victory-people”, from Nike “victory” + laos “people”.

Born to wealthy parents Nicholas/Nikolaos was brought up in Myra, Lycia which is now Demre in modern-day Turkey but at that time was under Greek Christian influence. He later became bishop of Myra and that is as far as reliable history goes.

The legend goes that he was one of many bishops to answer the request of Constantine and appear at the First Council of Nicaea in 325AD and was said to be one of the bishops who signed the Nicene Creed.

His wealthy parents died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young and he was raised by his uncle (also named Nicholas) who was the bishop of Patara. He tonsured the young Nicholas as a reader and later ordained him a presbyter (priest).

Nicholas was revered for his extraordinary generosity leaving anonymous gifts and was made a saint shortly after his death.

One story tells of a poor peasant with three daughters, who could not afford the dowry for his three daughters and he was being forced to sell them into slavery. As he began to despair, on three separate nights as they came of age, bags of gold appeared in his home, seemingly tossed through a window or down the chimney as they slept, landing in shoes left by the fire. The story inspired the tradition of children leaving out their stockings to be filled by Santa Claus.

The veneration of saints was discouraged by protestant churches after the reformation and this led to him being renamed Father Christmas but St. Nicholas or the name Santa Claus proved almost impossible to kill off.

Philip Lynch, a historian and chairman of Callan Heritage Society in Co. Kilkenny, claims there is evidence to suggest that a French family who settled in Ireland shortly after 1169 were responsible for moving his remains. He believes that the crusading family, called the de Frainets, exhumed the tomb after they were routed by their enemies, and brought the content to southern Italy, which was then under Norman control.

When they were subsequently forced out of Italy by the Genoese, the remains were entrusted to relatives in Nice, who moved them to family lands in Kilkenny for safe keeping. Nicholas de Frainet built a dedicated church at Newtown where St Nicholas’s remains were then interred in 1200.

I'll let you in on a little secret. Santa's not a real person. Santa can be whatever means the most to a family during Christmas since he's "make-believe." This thread is a funny example of your fear that somebody won't believe the same as you. Even when it comes to fairy tales. Merry Christmas!

What I find funny is how the conservatives are so adamant about the race of their bearded hero, yet are somehow oblivious and not suspicious of a guy who lives in a secluded area spending 99% of his time hanging out with a bunch of little guys who prance around in tights, and who has lists of what every little boy or girl in the world has done.

Sorry to burst your bubble, rightards, but white or not, Santa is a pedophile, and likely homosexual, or at least bi. His marriage to Mrs. Claus is likely a sham, or at the very least an open one. She has to get jealous of those elves.

"Born to wealthy parents Nicholas/Nikolaos was brought up in Myra, Lycia which is now Demre in modern-day Turkey but at that time was under Greek Christian influence. He later became bishop of Myra and that is as far as reliable history goes."

In bold for you, you self hating, illiterate troll..........Cue all of the " Santa wasn't white, he was likely BROWN cuz he was born in TURKEY!"

I'll let you in on a little secret. Santa's not a real person. Santa can be whatever means the most to a family during Christmas since he's "make-believe." This thread is a funny example of your fear that somebody won't believe the same as you. Even when it comes to fairy tales. Merry Christmas!

No, this thread is about ONCE marginalized opinions gaining mainstream support and traction due largely to people like you who stand for N-O-T-H-I-N-G. Salutations you spineless puke.

"Born to wealthy parents Nicholas/Nikolaos was brought up in Myra, Lycia which is now Demre in modern-day Turkey but at that time was under Greek Christian influence. He later became bishop of Myra and that is as far as reliable history goes."

In bold for you, you self hating, illiterate troll..........Cue all of the " Santa wasn't white, he was likely BROWN cuz he was born in TURKEY!"

You're all bent out of shape over a Coke ad. Stop acting like a troll, and accept the fact that (a) Santa Clause is a composite figure who never existed as a jolly white man in a fat suit and (b), you're a race obsessed asshat and like all racists, you're an epic idiot.

Now piss off and have a Merry Christmas. Ho, Ho, Ho!

Quote:

Like America itself, the jolly figure we call Santa Claus is a melting pot of cultures, blending elements of folklore with the fantastical.
By the late 1800s, most depictions of Santa Claus followed this imagery, but the final cog in the Claus legend was provided by Coca-Cola ad
illustrator Haddon Sundblom, whose 1930s red-suited Santa, complete with white-fur trim and leather boots, became the iconic standard recognizable today.

What I find funny is how the conservatives are so adamant about the race of their bearded hero, yet are somehow oblivious and not suspicious of a guy who lives in a secluded area spending 99% of his time hanging out with a bunch of little guys who prance around in tights, and who has lists of what every little boy or girl in the world has done.

"Born to wealthy parents Nicholas/Nikolaos was brought up in Myra, Lycia which is now Demre in modern-day Turkey but at that time was under Greek Christian influence. He later became bishop of Myra and that is as far as reliable history goes."

In bold for you, you self hating, illiterate troll..........Cue all of the " Santa wasn't white, he was likely BROWN cuz he was born in TURKEY!"

Multiple choice. Which picture more accurately portrays the part of Santa that originated from Turkey?